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Midtown Manhattan blocks evacuated after beams buckling at construction site

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31–35 of 35 posts

Re: Midtown Manhattan blocks evacuated after beams buckling at construction site

#31

They're adding a hunch of floors to an existing building - it was the old Pfizer headquarters and they want to turn it into apartments. Someone either didn't do the proper engineering study, or the original specs weren't accurate. Figuring out who to blame will probably take years in court.

Could also be incorrect materials used. than specified? Fake parts? or construction , used that not obvious

Re: Midtown Manhattan blocks evacuated after beams buckling at construction site

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you run the mental model of picking up a building with a bunch of surplus Hueys, do they not all collide together once they start bearing weight?

“spreader bar”

But not one made out of the same stuff as those beams, they're like chocolate.

Re: Midtown Manhattan blocks evacuated after beams buckling at construction site

#33
post #6

Does anyone here have any knowledge of how something like this gets resolved?

Most likely the building gets stabilized and then anyone involved gets embroiled in lawsuits and it stays standing half finished for years. One Seaport is a famous recent example of an under construction skyscraper getting halted for structural issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/161_Maiden_Lane

As flatpandas[0] points out, this might in fact be the best possible practical outcome.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48820971

Re: Midtown Manhattan blocks evacuated after beams buckling at construction site

#34

The USA is mostly empty space. Trying to force upwards in such an already dense area just doesn't make sense. We are not constrained the way singapore is.

It's illegal to build dense cities like Manhattan in most of the United States. And while most people want to live in a Manhattan'esque area, plenty (like me) do.

Re: Midtown Manhattan blocks evacuated after beams buckling at construction site

#35

They're adding a hunch of floors to an existing building - it was the old Pfizer headquarters and they want to turn it into apartments. Someone either didn't do the proper engineering study, or the original specs weren't accurate. Figuring out who to blame will probably take years in court.

More often than a faulty initial design, it's because of a something not being followed, e.g. the design called for one type of material or process and another was used during construction, either on accident or on purpose but without correctly doing the math to verify that it will work.

This makes a case for engineering margins, maybe even running the numbers assuming a worse grade of steel or bolts than specified. Also worth remembering this building wasn't special. If this was a design or construction flaw that surfaced with added load, a lot of other buildings from that era probably have a similar issue.
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